Seagate 2014 Annual Report Download - page 7
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PARTI
ITEM1.BUSINESS
Wearealeadingproviderofelectronicdatastoragetechnologyandsolutions.Ourprincipalproductsareharddiskdrives,commonlyreferredtoasdisk
drives,harddrivesorHDDs.InadditiontoHDDs,weproduceabroadrangeofelectronicdatastorageproductsincludingsolidstatehybriddrives("SSHD"),solid
statedrives("SSD"),PCIecardsandSATAcontrollers.Ourstoragetechnologyportfolioalsoincludesstoragesubsystems,highperformancecomputing(HPC)
solutions,anddatastorageservices.
Harddiskdrivesaredevicesthatstoredigitallyencodeddataonrapidlyrotatingdiskswithmagneticsurfaces.Diskdrivescontinuetobetheprimarymedium
ofmassdatastorageduetotheirperformanceattributes,highqualityandcosteffectiveness.Complementingexistingdatacenterstoragearchitecture,solid-state
storagedevicesuseintegratedcircuitassembliesasmemorytostoredata,andmostSSDsuseNAND-basedflashmemory.InadditiontoHDDsandSSDs,Solid-
statehybriddrives(SSHDs)combinethefeaturesofSSDsandHDDsinthesameunit,containingalargeharddiskdriveandanSSDcachetoimprove
performanceoffrequentlyaccesseddata.
Ourproductsaredesignedforenterpriseserversandstoragesystemsinmissioncriticalandnearlineapplications;clientcomputeapplications,whereour
productsaredesignedprimarilyfordesktopandmobilecomputing;andclientnon-computeapplications,whereourproductsaredesignedforawidevarietyofend
userdevicessuchasdigitalvideorecorders("DVRs"),personaldatabackupsystems,portableexternalstoragesystems,digitalmediasystemsandsurveillance
systems.
Ourproductandsolutionportfoliofortheenterprisedatastorageindustryincludesstorageenclosures,integratedapplicationplatformsandhighperformance
computing("HPC")datastoragesolutions.Ourstoragesubsystemssupportarangeofhigh-speedinterconnecttechnologiestomeetdemandingcostand
performancespecifications.Ourmodularsubsystemarchitectureallowsustosupportmanysegmentswithinthenetworkedstoragemarketbyenablingdifferent
specificationsofstoragesubsystemdesignstobecreatedfromastandardsetofinterlockingtechnologymodules.
Ourdatastorageservicesprovideonlinebackup,dataprotectionandrecoverysolutionsforsmalltomedium-sizedbusinesses.
IndustryOverview
ElectronicDataStorageIndustry
Theelectronicdatastorageindustryiscomprisedofcompaniesthatmanufacturecomponentsorsubcomponentsdesignedforelectronicdatastoragedevices
andcompaniesthatprovidestoragesolutions,softwareandservicesforenterprisecloud,bigdataandcomputingplatforms.
Markets
Theprincipalmarketsservedbytheelectronicdatastorageindustryare:
EnterpriseStorage.Wedefineenterprisestorageasdedicatedstorageareanetworksandhyperscalecloudstorageenvironments.Enterprisedatacentersrun
solutionswhicharedesignedformissioncriticalperformanceandnearlinehighcapacityapplications.
Missioncriticalapplicationsaredefinedasthosethatarevitaltotheoperationoflarge-scaleenterpriseworkloads,requiringhighperformanceandhigh
reliabilitystoragesolutions.Weexpectthemarketformissioncriticalenterprisestoragesolutionstocontinuetobedrivenbyenterprisesutilizingdedicatedstorage
areanetworks.Ourstoragesolutionsarecomprisedprincipallyofhighperformanceenterpriseclassdiskdriveswithsophisticatedfirmwareandcommunications
technologies.
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